The experience likely made HTC a bit wary of the good times that once rolled with partner Google Inc. (GOOG). Hence, much like Samsung, this time around it appears much more serious when it comes to putting product on "the other" smartphone platform -- Windows Phone -- which is protected under Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) cross-licensing pact with Apple.

The 8X features a fully colored polycarbonate case. It can be had in California Blue (pictured), Graphite Black, Flame Red and Limelight Yellow (don't ask us what those colors mean, precisely):

The HTC Windows Phone 8X

The 8S has a more subtle colored accent that wraps the bottom edge of the phone and appears in the button area. That phone is available with "Domino, Fiesta Red, Atlantic Blue and High-Rise Gray" colors. The Atlantic Blue is seen below:

The 8S features a smaller 4-inch screen with first generation Gorilla Glass. It features a slower dual-core Snapdragon S4 (1 GHz), less DRAM (512 MB), and less internal storage (4 GB). NFC and LTE are also not mentioned, so it's probably those features are dropped. The camera is dropped to 5 megapixels, while the front camera is eliminated altogether. Clearly the 8S is the "budget" model.

Both phones do add a couple nice differentiators, though -- a Beats Audio built-in amplifier to produce better sound quality out the headphones port, and an ImageChip processor, which features the same unique continuous-shooting that's depicted in the company's humorous "mountain goat" commercial:

The phones are expected to ship in the early November, but the pricing and precise carrier availability has not been revealed. HTC would only say that the phones are expected to be available on 150 carriers worldwide (while declining to discuss specific U.S. carriers, for now).